


a fishy situation

by fictionalrobin



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Mermaids, Angst, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Why Did I Write This?, agnry Ryan Bergara, don't be fooled this is a crackfic, mermaid au, oc's cuss im dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-02 10:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15794769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalrobin/pseuds/fictionalrobin
Summary: Sure, while shooting episodes they got into some crazy situations, but even Ryan had to admit this was a bit much.(or that one fic where Ryan turns into a mermaid)





	1. Chapter 1

Sure, while shooting episodes they got into some crazy situations, but even Ryan had to admit this was a bit much. 

“dude, I’m not going down there.” 

“well don’t you wanna meet the mermaids Ryan?”

“Shane I swear to god.” 

“go for a little swim, splash around, have some fun.” 

Ryan stared at Shane’s grinning face, trying his best to send a death glare visible enough in the flashlight-lit cave. Which was surprisingly hard. 

In this edition of Buzzfeed Unsolved, Ryan, Shane and the rest of the team had been sent to explore the underground cave systems of the Cordelia den, an alleged mermaid hotspot from the nineteen fifties. 

Now, Ryan hadn’t been too alarmed when the case was brought up during a meeting, and he hadn’t really thought much of it when it ended up being picked either. He understood why though. It was an interesting case with a lot of compelling evidence, yet not compelling enough to close the case. It was perfect for the show. Plus mermaids were actually kinda cool (never tell Shane he said that oh my god).

But what Ryan hadn't been prepared for was going into a dark clammy cave in the middle of the fucking night, accompanied by only his flashlight and of course everyone’s favorite asshole Shane Ma-fucking-dej. The part of the cave they were exploring was too tight to fit an entire crew plus multiple cameras inside, so they’d dropped off most of their gear in another part of the cave for their cameraman TJ to guard. 

“Ryaaaan,” Shane wiggled both his eyebrows in a stupid cartoonish fashion and tilted his head, “the fishies are waiting for you Ryan.” 

“don’t call them that.” 

“so you admit that they’re real?”

“no-wh-oh for fucks sake!” 

“well Ryan, now than we’ve officially cleared that you believe in mermaids, why don’t you go down and talk to them!” 

“I don’t believe in mermaids! It's ridiculous!” 

“they want you to come down there Ryan, go talk to them. Go talk to the fishies!” 

He knew that. Or, well, not that the _fishies_ wanted him to go down there, that was just Shane being a dick. But he knew he had to go down there. And by _down there_ , he meant the so-called mermaid pond, a small lake located in the very deepest part of the cave-system. Which they just so happened to be standing right outside off.

It played a big role in the Cordelia case, and an essential part of the episode. Ryan knew the drill by now.  first, Shane would taunt him a little. As always. Then they'd go into the cave individually, turn their flashlights off and spend 3-5 minutes alone in absolute darkness. It was his least favorite part of the job, and yet it seemed to be Shane’s favorite. 

Wonder why. 

“do you hear them?” Shane put a hand behind his ear in a mime-like gesture and listened, “mmmm, I think I can hear them right now, they want you to come for a swim Ryan.” 

“Shane.” 

“just a quick dive.” 

“Shane.” 

“just a little dipper.” 

“Shane.” 

“a bathe.” 

“Shane.”

“a paddle.” 

“Fine! Okay! I’ll do it, Jesus fuck...” 

Shane’s face cracked into a full-on grin. It twisted the low-lit shadows on his face and darkened his eye sockets. It would’ve been kinda creepy. If it wasn’t Shane doing it. Ryan didn’t know what it was about the guy. He could just never take him seriously. He could be chasing Ryan down a dark alleyway with a knife, and Ryan would still think he looked ridiculous. 

“you’re an idiot.” 

“thanks, I try.” 

Ryan turned around to hide his smile as he shook his head. The ground underneath his feet was uneven, and he gripped his flashlight. 

“so what do we say? five minutes?” 

Ryan rolled his eyes one last time before shimmying towards the cave, “sure.” he squeezed himself through a short tunnel, doing his best not to get anything caught in the creaks. At the end, he had to curl in on himself, and he couldn’t help but wonder how the hell Shane would get in here, before he stumbled into the cave. 

And then he lost his breath. 

It was....beautiful.

The caveroom was almost completely covered in crystals. They came out of the walls. Out of cracks in the floor. Hung in clusters from big stalactites and stalactites in the ceiling and ground. Some of them big, some small, but all in the same icy clear color, just like stars. They twinkled and flickered, reflected in the small pond in the middle of the room, not far from Ryan. 

He’d never seen water that blue before. 

“you ready Ryan?” 

He'd forgotten Shane was there. 

“uh...yeah, sure!”

“your time starts now buddy.” 

Well. There wasn’t much else he could do. 

Still mesmerized by the cave he switched his flashlight off. As soon as he did, the stars showed up in the pond. 

“holy shit...” 

He'd never seen anything like it. 

Without noticing, he went closer to the water. The dust screeched under his boots as he kneeled and looked up. He hadn’t noticed the reflection before. But sure enough, there was a big hole right above the pond leading directly up into the night sky. 

That explained why the air felt so fresh in here. 

“are you guys seeing this?” he whispered to his GoPro and pointed it at the sky. It was the only equipment they’d been able to carry with them safely and comfortably. Right now Ryan was glad he didn’t have the full package with him. A bodycam, backpack and mic would’ve ruined the experience. 

“how did we miss this giant fucking ho-” 

Then he stopped. 

And looked at the GoPro. 

Wasn't the light supposed to be red when it was recording? 

“shit.” 

He sat back on the ground and began to fiddle with the buttons. No red light to be seen. Actually no light at all. The screen was completely black, even though he’d basically preformed enough maneuvers to bring a Bop-it to shame. 

“Shane!” 

“are the mermaids scaring ya?” 

He rolled his eyes, “no, I think my camera is dead!” 

There was a beat of silence. 

“didn’t we just change the batteries?”

“no that was your GoPro.” 

“you didn’t change yours?” 

“you said you’d do it!” 

Another beat of silence. And then another. 

“god damnit Shane!” Ryan got up, determined to scold that stupid flagpole of a human being when his foot got caught on the rock. He flailed his arms around in a way that would probably had been funny if someone had been there to see it. 

Oh shit. 

His insides swished as he lost balance and fell backwards. The water was cold, cold enough to shock through his entire system and make him gasp. The gopro fell out of his hand as he splashed around. 

“spffft-fuck..” he quickly came to the surface and spat out saltwater.  

“are you okay in there?” 

He rubbed saltwater off his face and began treading waters. Now that the initial shock was over he realized the pool wasn’t even that deep. He could probably stand if he found a high enough rock. Or if he wasn’t so freakishly short. 

“yeah,” he said, “yeah I think I’m okay.” 

“need any help?” 

“no it’s fine,” he said, “I lost my gopro though.” 

He started moving towards the edge of the pool when a glint of light stopped him. He squinted his eyes and looked up through the hole where the moon, full and round had centered above the pond. He shook his head and was about to get out,

When the water around him began to glow. 

“w-what the fuck!?” 

He let out a noise he wouldn’t admit was a squack when he was suddenly ripped away by a strong stream that hadn’t been there before. The water around him began to bubble and churn. He trashed around in the water and tried to keep above water. 

“Shane!” 

He couldn’t understand what was happening. One moment ago the water had been calm and relatively low and now he was almost drowning. His phone is his pocket was definetely not alive anymore, and his flashlight was probably lost at the bottom. But there was no outside sourced. Nowhere this stream could’ve come from. 

Then what the hell was happening? 

“SHANE!” 

A big wave towered up above him and pushed him under the water. He screamed and tried to come up for air, only to be pushed back down. 

“SHA-BLRSGRFTRFTGT!” 

Water was in his mouth. In his nose. In his ears and all around him. There was nothing he could do. It ripped at his limbs like greedy hands. He was stretched thin. His muscles were quacking and his lungs already felt like they were about to burst. He reached his arms upwards, up towards the air, but his body wouldn’t follow. His feet searched for somewhere to stand and be steady, but the water only ripped them away and he couldn’t breathe. 

He couldn’t breathe. 

He couldn’t breathe. 

Black spots were dancing in front of his eyes, and the exhaustion was slowly creeping up on him. His arms were heavy and sank to the bottom. His head was a swollen and his lungs were two tiny paper balls inside his ribcage, all crumbled up and squeezed to the limit. In his mind, he registered that he should be terrified. He was terrified. But his brain was slowly turning to mush and the world was spinning. 

Until it wasn’t 

The water released its grip on him and it took him a moment to realize he was floating to the top. He broke the surface with a gasp that didn’t feel real, before grabbing the pool edge and hurling up at least two liters of saltwater. 

“wow, you really went there” 

Ryan looked up at Shane, standing by the entrance. 

“i had no idea you took me that seriously! I just went to get help and you go for a whole ass dive, go you Ryan!” 

“fuck you Shane.” 

“hey I’m not judging here! The water looks lovely.” 

“I fell in you dickbag now help me get out.” 

Shane mumbled something with a smirk Ryan did not like before pulling Ryan out of the water. 

“okay,” Shane hesitated as he looked at Ryan, “uhhh, we should probably get you out of here as fast as we can, TJ should be right outside, I think he found a spare jacket.” 

“what?” Ryan’s shirt slopped as he crossed his arms, “but you still haven’t done your five minutes! Don't think you’re getting out of this one that easily.” 

Shane raised his eyebrows, “Ryan, you’re gonna die from hypothermia if we don’t get you some dry clothes.” 

“but...” Ryan hesitated. But what? Shane was right. He could already feel himself getting colder. They had to get back to the others before anything bad happened. 

But maybe he wanted Shane to experience it too. He wanted him to fall into that pond as well and experience what had just happened to Ryan, whatever it was. My god, what the fuck was that?

He stared at the pond. It was as normal as ever. Or at least as normal as any underground magical mermaid pond could be. No glowing water. No bubbles. No magical streams pulling you under until you drowned. 

Had it even been real? 

“Ryan?” 

“what?” 

“you wanna,” Shane rolled his shoulders towards the entrance, “you know, go?” 

Ryan swallowed a lump and took one last look at the pond. 

Nothing. 

There was nothing there. 

“yeah, yeah let’s go.” 

-

Ryan had been begun to think he’d made the whole thing up. 

Seriously? Glowing water? Come on. Even he had to admit that was ridiculous. 

That was until he took a shower the next day. 

He sighed as he turned on the water, stepping back for a moment and waiting for it to be heat up (which they never seemed to do in the movies?) he yawned and closed the shower curtain. He’d woken up a few minutes before his alarm that morning, and his eyelids still very much wanted to stay closed. 

But he hadn’t been able to sleep. 

He'd had this...feeling. He couldn't explain it. This shakiness. It wasn’t anxiety, or at least not just anxiety. It was this weird blend of uneasiness, anxiety and restlessness. 

And he couldn’t stop thinking about the mermaid pond. 

It was stupid. Usually he was all for the paranormal, but this was just...weird. It wasn’t like ghosts. They made sense, in some way. Often when someone dies, their spirit will linger behind. Sometimes because they’re confused, and sometimes because they’re searching for revenge. Or sometimes they just don’t want to be forgotten. He could get behind that. In some way. 

He could at least wrap his mind around that.

But mermaids were something else. They made sense on a biological plane. The aquatic ape. A part of humanity that split off from the rest and evolved to hunt in the sea. It was all science. magical water didn’t have anything to do with that. 

Just as he thought that, a zing ran through his body. He let out a gasp when a sharp tingle ran down his spine, split off into his legs and traveled all the way into his toes. For a split second he was under water, breathing water, merging and moving with it. He _was_ water. But it all happened so quickly he barely processed it before his legs disappeared. He yelped flailed for something to grab onto as he tipped over, narrowly avoiding smashing his forehead into the tap as he crashed onto the floor. 

Ow. 

Ow for fucks sake. 

He groaned. The tiles dug into his forearms as he propped himself up on his elbows. What the hell? How could he just fall over like that? And more importantly, why couldn’t he get up again?

 He shook his head and flopped around. 

And then he froze. 

Because right where his legs had been before. Right where they _should_ be. There were no legs. 

It was long. Longer than his legs would be. Slim, with a golden scales and a ridge down the back, running from his spine all the way down to the tip, merging into the powerful fin pressed against his bathroom wall. 

A tail. 

A _fishtail_. 

“w-what the fuck?!” his voice sounded thin and squeaky. Shane would probably have made fun of it if he was there. Which Ryan thanked fuck he wasn’t. 

He rubbed his eyes. The tail was still there. Very much in fact. Hesitantly, he reached forward. His fingers shook as he ran them over the smooth slippery rind He could feel the muscle underneath. He tried flexing it and felt the tail jump under his fingers. The water from the shower felt just as real and warm on his hand as it did on his scales. His scales. _His scales,_ _because he had a tail, even though he_ _absolutely_ _shouldn’t._

He was so fucked. 

Mentally. Spiritually. Whatever. 

How the hell was he gonna get to work like this? 

-

Eventually, he managed to drag himself out of the bathroom. The tail didn’t really fit in the tiny shower cabin, and he was getting a bit uncomfortable. After a lot of lying around and trying not to have a panic attack, he dried off, and as soon as he did the tail disappeared. 

Which was apparently the main key of this whole...situation. 

His tail only appeared when he got wet. A few experiments with his kitchen sink had confirmed this. If he managed to dry the water off, or just let it evaporate on its own, he returned to his...human form. 

Was he even human anymore? 

Many question like this emerged that morning yet non were answered, and he was still late to work. 


	2. Chapter 2

Day one of being a mermaid. 

Did...not go over well to be quite honest. Not that anything catastrophically happened! It's just...well, listen: 

First of all, Ryan was two hours late (for obvious reasons) which meant he got to receive some _very_ stern looks from coworkers. 

“your late,” Jaine greeted him over her computer screen, as Ryan dumped into his chair. 

“sorry, my shower...ehm...broke...” 

Jaine sent him another dirty look before she ducked back behind the lamp. 

He swallowed and leaned over to turn on his computer. Jaine could be scary at times. A quality Ryan had just discovered. 

“hey Ryan, up partying all night?” 

God damnit. 

He groaned and turned to Shane, who was taking his jacket off. Just the sight of his stupid ratface was enough to make something in Ryan narrow his eyes.

“no Shane I was not.” 

“his shower broke,” added Jaine and took a long sip of water she looked at Shane over the rim of her glass. 

“ah, I see,” Shane grinned, and Ryan wanted to punch him. 

_What's new_

“yes, Jaine, my shower broke thank you,” he said, “now can we please let it be? I need to get started on work.”

“you missed the meeting,” Jaine somehow made spinning in a chair look grumpy, “we discussed what to about your missing footage.” 

Oh yeah. The missing footage. He'd kind forgotten about that, just a little bit. But falling into a magical glowing poll and turning into a mermaid (merman?) had distracted him a bit. 

“uhh...” he furrowed his brow, “I guess we’ll just have to roll with it, explain the situation as best as we can, make it a bit.” 

“that’s what we concluded as well,” said Jaine in a pointy-sharp voice and stopped the spinning of the chair with her foot, “and you would’ve known that if you’d been at the meeting.” 

Ryan cringed into his chair and returned to his computer monitor. He hadn’t even pulled up any project yet. His standard desktop background stared back at him from within the pixelated world. It was a picture of a beach with sparkly blue water, taking from the inside of a cave. 

He should probably change that. 

“so,” Shane kicked his chair over to Ryan, “what did you do last night?”

Ryan looked up, “what?” 

“Ryan, you’re a terrible liar,” Shane wiggled his eyebrows. He did that sometimes. He should stop. “I know your shower didn’t actually break. And you wouldn’t lie unless it was something you’re embarrassed about. Ergo; it must be something saucy. Now spill the beans!” 

Ryan stared at Shane. At his stupid, stupid weasel-face and shaggy beard. His glasses had slipped down his weirdly crookednose as he was wiggling his eyebrows. The lenses sliced his eyes in half and made the bottom part look smaller than the top. 

“I didn’t...” Ryan’s voice died in his throat, “I-I didn’t do anything last night!” 

“you’re blushing though.” 

Was he? Now that Shane mentioned it, his cheeks did feel kind of warm. And now they felt even warmer. But why was he blushing? He really hadn’t done anything last night! Then why wouldn’t his voice work? Stupid Shane. Stupid, stupid Shane messing with his head and making him blush. It was all his fault. 

“I’m not blushing!” 

“aw, look at you! I've got you all flustered!” Shane gave him a luke-warm smile, “now tell us the truth Ryno-boy.” 

“okay first of all, don’t call me that, ever!” Ryan stood up from his chair and did his best to look intimidating and serious (which wasn’t so easy when Shane was two heads taller than him), “second of all, I don’t think I like your insinuation! What I do in my private time-saucy or not, is _non_ of your buisness, unless I want it to be, so back off!” 

“woah there little fella, just joking withya!” 

“ _do not call me little!_ ” 

The glass on Jaine’s desk exploded before any of them could do anything. Water and glass cascaded through the air, hitting Ryan’s face and hands. Water. Water hit his skin. 

_Water_ _water_ _water_

“what the fuck!” Jaine fell out of her chair, but Ryan had no time to check on her. he bolted for the bathroom without saying anything. 

“wh-hey! Ryan!” 

He couldn’t answer. Didn't have enough time. 

Shit shit shit shit shit what the _fuck_

His spine was already tingling. If the bathroom was booked he was going to _scream._  

He made it to the men’s bathroom and almost bumped into Andrew Ilnyckyj on his way, before head diving into a stall. And he meant that literally. His legs were gone and there wasn’t so much else he could do. 

His stomach scraped across bathroom tiles for the second time that morning, and this time it was much less pleasant. He groaned as piss and onld toilet paper slid its way across his now naked skin.

God damnit. 

He flopped his head down on the floor and took a deep breath. 

What was that back there? 

He pulled himself up on his forearms and tried to ignore the sticky sensation all over his arms. Why the floor was so sticky? He didn’t wanna know. Instead he grabbed the toilet paper and began to wipe himself down. The faster he dried off, the better. If he could get dry he could get back to the office and pretend like nothing ever happened. He didn’t want to cause a scene by running away in a fit of rage, like some distressed teenager. Or well, maybe it was a bit too late for that now. But he hadn’t really had much of a choice. When that glass exploded, he’d been in a panic. 

How did that happen anyway? 

He sat up until he could lean against the wall and adjusted his tail to a more comfortable position. His eyes drift to the sink. 

No. It couldn’t be. That would just be ridiculous. 

Slowly, he raised his hand towards the sink. Closing his eyes, he focused all his energy on the tab. On the pipes and drains. On the water flowing through them. Cold. Hot. Circling water molecules. Sticking together and forming solid liquid. 

He thought of how he’d felt when that glass exploded. He'd felt as if he himself was about to explode. 

Now, he imagined himself as part of the water. He was the water. He was inside of those pipes, and he wanted to get out. In a steady, even flow, right out of the tab. 

The tab turned on. 

It turned on. 

He could hear it, the water. Streaming out of the fossette and hitting the porcelain bowl. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet and honestly, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. His arm was beginning to shake. 

“this is crazy,” he muttered, “this is crazy, this is crazy, this is _crazy_.” 

He opened his eyes. 

And wouldya know it, the water was really there. Showering out of the tab, just like he wanted it to. A dry laughter left his throat. 

“oh my god, I’m a god damn Disney princess.” 

He lifted his other hand and focused back on the water. But this time he didn’t close his eyes, and the water moved and warped in front of his wiggling fingers. A curious tentacle stretched out towards him, and he brought it as close to his face as he dared. 

Holy shit. This was amazing. The watered hovered in midair, right in front of him. It shouldn’t be possible. _But he’d made it possible_. 

“Ryan!” 

_Shit_

He dropped the tentacle. The water cascaded over him with a wet slap, and he scattered to get up, when he remembered that _oh yeah, he has a tail_. 

“Ryan are there?” 

Shit. Shane. That stupid flagpole must’ve questioned his way to his hide out. Ryan could hear him stepping around outside the stalls. Good thing his door was lo- _shit the door was unlocked._

He flopped towards the door, ignoring the comical floppy sounds it made when he moved. He stretched his arm out, his fingertips brushing over the lock. 

But he couldn’t reach it. 

Someone banged on the door, “Ryan?” 

“don’t come in!” 

“Ryan! Are you okay?” 

Ryan looked down at his glistening fishtail, “uhm...yes?” 

“look man, I’m sorry about what I said earlier.”

“Shane, it’s fine, just leave it.” 

Shane huffed. His shoes creaked. “you sure?” 

“yes, I just...I’ll be back in a sec I just need to fix something.” 

_Fix something? Yeah, that was an understatement._

There was a long pause outside. So long Ryan wondered if Shane had evaporated. 

“okay, I’ll leave you to it then.” 

Ryan released a deep breath as he heard the door close behind Shane. 

Then he began to wipe himself down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know a lot about the bunsolved team™ so i just made someone up hhhhhhhh


	3. Chapter 3

So life wasn’t exactly gong well. Turned out being a mermaid and not having the entire world know it was kind of hard. Throw in crazy powers that flare up with your mood and you got yourself a package of disaster. 

Oh yeah the whole power thing. 

It had taken Ryan weeks to get it under control. Somewhat. There was the time he ate a mint and without thinking further took a sip of water from the fridge straight afterwards. The water had frozen to ice inside his mouth and he’d had to pretend he was just taking a _very_ long and slow sip as he powerwalked to the bathroom. Then there was the time he’d burned his hand on a frying pan making eggs and his freezer started steaming. 

But all and all he got around it. 

He wore gloves when he brushed his teeth. He drank through straws, never from a faucet. He planned his showers precisely, and he avoided waterparks like the plauge. 

But he still had no idea what this whole thing meant. How it happened. _What_ happened. 

Which was why he was currently headed for the beach. 

It was a stupid idea, he knew. He could get caught. But he was tired of just dealing, he wanted answers. Besides, the Cordelia den wasn’t that far away. It was only a short boat ride, and a very long swim. 

But he could make it. 

Ryan tip toed down the beach, careful of sharp tang and seashells. He'd managed to find a relatively quiet spot. Granted it was very far from where he’d parked his car, but it was worth being able to dry off without being spotted. 

He’d hidden some towels between the rocks, and scouted around for bystanders. Everyone was either too busy or too far away to spot him. Everything was perfect, but his hands were shaking. It should be easy to get in. Once he was under water he could just swim away. 

_Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming_ _swimming_ _swimming_ _._

He didn’t know why he was so scared. He didn’t know why he had Finding Nemo stuck in his head. In fact, he had a lot of unanswered questions. 

And all of which could be answered, if he could just get to the Cordelia den. 

_Just do it Ryan, just get in the water, for_ _Christ's_ _sake_

He took a deep breath, looked around one last time and ran as fast as he could into the water. 

And he swam. 

He swam as his body turned to liquid and reformed, and he swam as the waves crashed over his head and swallowed him up. He held his breath and kept going, and it took a while for him to realize he’d already gone a mile off shore before he’d even opened his eyes. 

He broke the water surface and gasped. His heart was hammering in his throat, and he spun around for any eyewitnesses. He knew someone had seen him. They had to. And now he was going to get captured and contained and taken to some fucking area 51 lab and poked and prodded and -wow, he could barely see the shoreline anymore. 

Had it really only taken him a few seconds to swim that far?

He looked down beneath the waves were his tail swooshed in S-shapes, without him even thinking about it. It felt as natural as breathing. As _walking_. And totally different from being crammed up in his shower-booth or on the floor of his kitchen. There was _so much water_. It never seemed to end. 

It was wonderful

He took a breath and dived down under. 

He'd gone swimming before. With family, friends, lovers, but he’d never noticed how soft the water was. Not soft like a pillow or a kitten. Another kind of soft. A slick soft. smoothly it glided along his body. Like friends gently stroking his body with silky hands. The sun hit the waves and shattered into a million pieces across his skin, his arms, his hands, in his hair. The oceans own little firework show. 

He dove downwards. 

The light dimmed from cobalt to midnight blue, but he had no problem seeing. He didn’t know why his vision wasn’t blurring. Humans couldn't see this well under water. Usually. 

Crocodiles had two eyelids, one normal, and one transparent one that slid over the pupil to protect it. A build-in set of swimming googles. Maybe he had something like that too? 

Shane would’ve known. 

He would’ve found some sort of way to scientifically explain all of this. To make it sound so simple and logical, that Ryan would shake his head and wonder why he hadn’t figured it out before. Fuck, he really wished that big asshole was here right now. It would’ve been nice to share this with someone. Have someone to hold his hand. 

Could Shane be someone he’d hold hands with? A stream of bubbles escapes Ryan’s nose as his cheeks grew hot. No. No that would never happen, what the fuck? 

Shane was an idiot, with big stupid hands that were always weirdly clammy, and Ryan didn’t wanna hold them. Besides, sharing this with Shane? Being a mermaid? No thanks. How would that even work? 

The sudden bizarre image of Shane flopping around with a mermaid tail prodded its way inside his brain, and he nearly choked on a mouthful of saltwater. 

Yeah, that would never happen. 

Ryan had been down here for a while. He looked up towards the glimmering underbelly of the ocean. He didn’t know how long he’d been swimming exactly, but he knew it was long enough for any human to start feeling light headed. But his lungs didn’t feel the least bit tight. 

Perks of being a fish it seemed. 

Either way, he let himself float to the top and took a breath of air. Again, he’d gone considerably far. He couldn’t see any land. Not anymore. it was just water. Water water water. Stretching to the right, stretching to the left. Stretching before him and behind him. 

It was oddly calming. And terrifying. Very terrifying. But in an exciting way. 

He hadn’t swum as fast for this dive, but it’d lasted longer. He could probably go even further and even faster on one dive if he wanted. But he decided not to test his limits too much on the first go. Wouldn't wanna end up dead and washed up on the shore in fish form. 

So he simply swam back under. 

-

It took him ten minutes to make it. A twenty-minute boat-ride took him ten minutes to swim. He almost didn’t believe it when he spotted the rocky shores of Cordelia Island. Yet here he was. 

When you search island on google, the images you get aren’t Cordelia Island. It wasn’t the kind you’d find in brochures at travel agencies on a postcard-rack in a cheap café. There was no crystal blue ocean surrounding peacefully pearly beaches. No jungle with high palm trees cover the island. It looked more like the missing piece of a national park, someone had cut out and dropped in the ocean. 

The water was more of a greenish-blue. The kind you’d expect to find in a lake. The beach was grey and covered in rocks and dried up seaweed. And the woodwork was more of the traditional pine-flavor. 

But it was still a beautiful place. 

It reminded Ryan of the forest where him and Shane had gone hunting for bigfoot. Or mothman. Or the woods around goatmans bridge. Actually, they’d been around a lot of woods. Which should be disturbing. But what could he say? Woods were just creepy. 

Swimming closer to the shore, a glimpse of lighting caught his eye. 

He stopped, squinting at the water. It was vaguely familiar. But the waves buckled and bent the image and he hesitantly dipped back under. 

It was deep down. Not too deep down, but still. Rocks and seaweed obscured the field and made it hard to see. A human would’ve never been able to see in through this. But Ryan could. And he could see the object clearer now. It was long and cylindrical, with a glowing white orb at the end and a black grip. 

No way. Could it be? 

But it was his flashlight. The one he thought he’d lost in the pond. He grinned so brightly a gulp of water slipped into his mouth. Mostly because he was amazed it was still working. _But_ _of course_ _Shane would_ go _out of his way to get waterproof flashlights._

But wait. 

If the flashlight was here, when he’d lost it at the pond, that meant...

_Someone took it from the pond and dumped it in the wate_ _r._ _Or maybe this wasn’t his flashlight after all_ _. Or maybe they he didn’t lose it but lost it on the boat._ _Or_ _maybe_ _it was none of those things_ _, maybe the flashlight got here...by itself..._

He glanced towards the dark rock constellations. There was an opening, a way to get in or at least out of the mermaid pond, there had to be. He reached into the dark and began searching along the wall of the rock. Algae slid across his hand like slimy hands and he grimaced but _there._

There was a hole. 

He looked down at the flashlight in his hand. Then back at the cave

carefully, he squeezed into the dark. The path was narrow. Almost too narrow. And the tunnel was well hidden. But he made it inside, trying not to cringe as algae squished against his skin. 

_God. The sea was so gross._

The actual tunnel was (thankfully) wider than its intro, and he slid inside it easily. Light now came in from above and he could clearly see the familiar bottom of the Mermaid pond. 

He'd made it. 

He let himself slide out of the water and lean against the edge of the pool with a gasp. He'd made I. he’d actually made it. He was here.

And the rock he was leaning against was warm. The sun must’ve warmed it. He glanced up at the ceiling. The sun was hanging slightly off center. Warm and round. Wonder how it would feel to swim out here in the winter. 

He shivered. 

Wow. Winter. That was in like, forever. Was he still going to be a mermaid by then? 

He hadn’t even thought about that. 

He starred at the tail. It shimmered in the sunlight. Like a god damn produce on a fish market. A shiny mackerel, resting with its head chopped off on a tray of ice amongst all the other fish. Disgusting. 

Was he going to be like this forever? Forever was a long time. Oh god, his entire life was going to crumble apart. All because of this stupid, stupid thing. He didn’t sign up for this. He didn’t want to do this. 

He wanted to chop his tail off.

He wanted to fucking tear it apart, scale by scale, until it would just _disappear_. 

He wanted to vomit. 

_Okay time to get out of the water now_

He dragged himself up and out of the pool, trying to stay as calm as possible and not have an anxiety attack. Which might be a little too late now. When his wrist slipped against his scales he shivered, curling his fingers back and drying off as quickly as he could. 

Better get to exploring. 

-

Getting out of the cave didn’t seem as hard as it’d been the first time, but Ryan was still glad he’d managed to find his flashlight. Without it he’d probably be lost for good.

Though he probably should’ve brought more supplies. Turns out climbing through a forest going up-hill was harder than it seemed. Especially with the many lumps and bumps and sharp rocks. He'd cut himself more than he’d planned for. 

He'd decided to search for that big crater. The one above the mermaid pond. Based on the location of the cave it had to be almost in the center of the island. 

But he’d been walking around the forest for what felt like hours now. God. This was exhausting. Exploring was supposed to be fun!

It was always fun when he did it with Shane.

He shook his head. _Stop thinking about Shane!_

He'd been doing that a lot lately. Thinking about Shane. It made sense though, they were friends. Best friends? He furrowed his brow. Was that it? Was that why he couldn’t get Shane out of his head? Was it just the natural transition of their friendship leveling up? 

Now he just felt like a sims character. 

The woods were thinning out. Hold on, what was that? He gasped, half in wonder and half in surprise. Finally! The crater! He almost flopped to his knees in pure exhaustion. 

The crater was just as wonderful as the cave. And it was...weird...when you thought about it. Not the crater itself, but the things around it. There was a moat running around the entire thing. It wasn’t more than four meters in diameters, but it was still impressive. The water flowed calmly around. As if this wasn’t an eerily strange place for a moat to be, and it had every right to be there. 

But hey, he was the one with the fishtail, so who was he to judge?

He moved closer. 

There were crystals too. Like the ones inside the cave. Though these were bigger. They jotted out of the rim of the crater like transparent teeth. 

He wanted to touch them. 

His gaze swirled. He got on his knees, stretching his arm across the singing water. His sleeve ruffled as it rolled up, and he put the other hand on the ground for balance. The water churned dangerously close to his knees. He was just about to touch the biggest, fattest crystal. His fingers barely grazed the tip and he was _so close._

And then his phone started ringing. 

He shook his head. His hand pulled away from the crystal and he realized how close he was to the moat and jumped back. He frantically wiped his arms and knees, as he danced to his feet and fumbled for his phone. All in one motion. Which was impressive if he had to say so himself. 

He hit the green button and pressed the phone to his ear. 

“uh-h hello?” 

“ _Ryan where the fuck_ _are_ _you_.” 

Jaine. Shit. 

“out on a,” he glanced back at the crater, “...walk.” 

The background scratched around Jaine. Someone said something, and Jaine replied, before she was back and hissing at him through the speakers. 

“ _well you better walk_ _your_ _ass back to this office right now, the mermaid-dude is here_.” 

“mermaid-dude?!” Ryan couldn’t help but glance behind him, “wh-what mermaid-dude?”

Jaine sighed into the phone, and Ryan could hear her shoulders dropping. 

“he’s a cryptozoologist. You guys were going to interview him for the Cordelia den episode today, that’s why the airing got delayed.”

“oh,” said Ryan, and wondered if this was yet another thing, he would’ve known about, if he’d been at the infamous ‘meeting’, “oh. I’m sorry I thought I was off today.” 

“it’s okay, I know you never check your email,” Jaine moved again and Ryan thanked fuck he she wasn’t as mad at him anymore, “just be here in like....seven minutes. Please” 

Ryan looked back at the crater. He stared at the crystals and the water and what bit of the cave he could see through the hole. Then he sighed. 

“okay. I’ll see you.” 

" _hurry_."

Then he started running towards the water. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hate this chapter. the pacing is awful. though i think i did get some good emotional stuff down. 
> 
> sry i died a bit. i got a lot going on rn so fan fiction has kind of become a side thing for me. i do love this fic though. if not the writing itself, at least the feedback. i love that y'all are having a nostalgia trip along w me on this thing lol. 
> 
> i wont abandon yall. not yet.

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